THE NEW YORKER ( . . . . ;-=. ....... '- , \.i. . _. .t< ., ,.<< , iÞ;q. ><:<,. '.,_ J":,.' / "": v ",:"W' ' ' ''.'' "":,:",.,:. "" ' .. '--.. . ."".", '::':\.. ...... ,.y '. '-"'" " w.'", . i : 7ì f ifr" ...., t1,," . ,: :<i. .: t \ "\. j" i 'f"lt" \ ,+, . · : , :;i 1 t.L, "\ . . : . ..:..... ..j? . '. .' , it;. it . .--.J/ i fjJi l,:5" ." . ..". .';<.' - ; ." ''';;. . . ':" ":'::"'::':':;::;:'::: " ':':::: :-:''''''' .., , , : . ..::. ::: ":':""""":- :ij t: ::-$::-"" -", "' - L. _ _ , ' , ? >>- ",. ' \ .., ';, "', : ",{i , ;J, .. them into the world, they point out that they themselves have only a certain New England shrewdness left. Few of them belong to churches, since most of them have relaxed into a comfortable agnosticism. None of them has the re- ligious power and drive which made the Oneida Community. I found that they were not telling the whole truth when they spoke of their heritage being chiefly competence in running the silver-plate business. This they undoubtedly have, and the fact that they have fitted a doctor into the job of head of the advertising depart- ment, a man without formal artistic education into the job of head designer, a scholar trained in the classics into an efficiency expert, is an interesting and iconoclastic comment on modern busi- ness methods. A member of The Fam- ily is shifted around in the business until his superiors believe he suits his job. He is promoted as he shows ability. But there can be no selection of the "best- trained man for the job" here. The man must adapt himself to his work after he gets it. Meanwhile, the business goes on being thoroughly successful. The Family have turned the evan- gelist fervor of their parents into oth- ':'. ':..::,;.:,:':.:::::', ;;;#x,:: :::,,:-,.:,,:. "I'll be back tomorrow nig-ht, honey.)' . . er channels. The Yankee penchant for dreaming has found varied outlets a- mong them. There is not one of them in whom the creative urge lies dormant. For example, P. B. Noyes himself, suc- cessful executive and president of the silver company, is a novelist. And the advertising man who talked with me of the days when Community Plate was advertised by Coles Phillips' advertise- ments in color, and asked me if I thought a similar campaign advisable now, is a gifted sculptor and models in his spare time. "One of the chief ways in which we differ from other middle-class groups of people of our circumstances," said a tall, blonde woman, "is that there is no gallantry in Kenwood. After the Break- Up, when the eugenic and communist experiment was at an end, the value of extreme respectability was high. Even today an occasional idiot leers at one of us and says, 'And what goes on at the Community now?' The result of our desIre to conform was that the pendulum swung as far as it could away from sex. There's no flirting at Kenwood. At our parties, the men go off in a corner and talk shop or sport, the women amuse themselves as best 27 J '. .r; fI' :; t r I ( \ ,i ;;,sf . ::) . J. '. " . ' ," ,; ,:'[ .. ," '" . "t< . .:" . % .:..{í : :: ':Ç:;t. : ' .: X::_.::- :. "':5l :: : Ø" .. ';""".,f . -. ::. ::::::f" . ... r-,' - they can. We have comradeship, intel- lectual companionship from our men, but not an admiring glance. No one even bows us through doors. Fifty years ago the people of Kenwood acted that way because they were afraid of public opinion. Now it's a habit.' "Look here," I said. "I'll never un- derstand you people unless I understand what produced you. Your parents are not to be known through the few words printed about them. You knew them, you tell me about them." "I've told him we'll give him every- thing except the diaries," said P. B. "You know, there are still a few of the grandchildren who look on theIr par- en ts' origins as not quite respectable. So we're delaying the publication of the diaries until the great-grandchildren are adults. By that time they'll be proud of their ancestors. This is more fun for us than it is for you, I guess. We'd rather talk about the Community than eat. " T HIS is the story the children of the Oneida Community put to- gether for me that night: John Humphrey Noyes was a red- headed, gray-eyed divinity student at